Laying on the bed, I fade in and out of consciousness for the next few hours. I’m woken up by Luke coming into the room with a covered metal tray. The light coming in from the window is a pale blue mixed with the street lamps’ orange glow. “I hope you had a good nap. You’ve certainly earned it.” I don’t even look at him. “I’ve taken it upon myself to make you supper. I really hope you enjoy it.” I glare at him from the corner of my eye before staring back at the ceiling. His smile only makes me angrier.

He’s standing beside the bed now. He places the tray on the bedside table and looks over me. I move my eyes away. I don’t even want to look at him. “Come on, Charlie. Don’t be like this. Let’s be honest, when was the last time you’ve eaten? Let alone had a nice home cooked meal. Let me help you up.” He holds his hand out to help me but I refuse to take it. ...But he is right. I haven’t eaten anything substantial in a few days. I try to hold strong but my stomach betrays me and rumbles loudly. “Sounds like your stomach would like the food. Trust me, it’s delicious.” He raises his eyebrows to look even nicer than he already does.

I roll my eyes and grab his arm. He reaches down and slides his hand under my back. Pulling me up gently, we get me upright. He lets go and begins messing with the pillows behind me. A moment later, he places his hand on my chest and back and slowly tilts me into the pseudo-backrest he’d made. I sink in a good bit do to how plush the pillows are, but thanks to their sheer numbers, they suffice. He grabs the tray and places it on my lap. Lifting the lid, the smell instantly hits me like a ton of bricks. There’s two plates: each with a large steak that’s juicy enough to be leaking before you even cut into it, and a sizable helping of mashed potatoes and steamed carrots. My mouth starts to water so much I have to gulp to clear it out.

Luke grabs one of the plates and sits on the end of the bed by my feet. Kicking off his shoes, he turns and crosses his legs so that he’s facing me. “I thought it’d be nice if we ate together and got to know each other a little better.” He looks down and starts cutting the steak on his plate. He lifts the meat into his mouth and starts chewing. My stomach screams for the meat in front of me. He gives a satisfied swallow. “Don’t worry, I didn’t poison the food. Go ahead and eat. I’m really quite proud of it.”

My hunger gets the better of me and I start slicing into the steak. It leaks onto the plate as I cut my way into the perfect amount of pink left in the center. Slowly, I place the bit of meat into my mouth and my tastebuds are instantly brought to a high they hadn’t felt before. I can’t help but moan at the taste. “It seems like you’re enjoying it, huh?” I ignore him and savor the taste as it fills my mouth.

After the first bite, I can’t stop myself. Cut after cut, I inhale the food on my plate in a matter of minutes. Luke has the common sense to shut up while I’m devouring the meal and letting me eat in peace. When I’ve scraped the last few scraps off of my plate, Luke still has half of his dinner left. He gives out a light-hearted laugh and smiles across the bed at me. “If I’d known you’d be that hungry, I’d have made dessert too.”

“That was amazi-” I let the food get the better of me for a second before my anger catches back up and cuts me off.

“Ah! He speaks!” I stare at him coldly. He sighs and places his plate beside him. Reaching out his arm, he places his hand on my shin through the covers. “Charlie, please. I really just want to help you. I’m sorry about the chip, it’s just a safety measure. You never know! You may even come to like me if you give me a chance.” I look into his eyes looking for even a hint of ill intent, but I can’t find one. His smile says it all. He actually thinks he’s helping.

“How could I come to like someone who’s forcing me to work for them?” I try to brush off his sincerity.

He bows his head and bends over in frustration, sending his hand further up to my knee. “Ugh, no. I-I don’t want you to work FOR me.” He brings his head back up but doesn’t straighten his back, leaving his hand where it is. “I want you to work WITH me. I want you to be my friend.”

“A friend you can order around.” I pull up my leg to get his hand off of it and fight the pain to keep my angry stare uninterrupted.

“Everything is taken care of for you! You have free food and housing. You’ll be making more money than most people could dream of. You have to understand.” He looks so desperate. Like what he’s trying to say makes it all OK.

“No, I don’t. You can’t buy your friends, Luke. And you sure as hell can’t keep them captive!”

He finally leans up again and stares into his lap. “Y-you’re right. I’m sorry. I just thought that if I helped you…” He brings a hand to his face and wipes something. “I just was hoping…” He sniffs loudly.

“Are you crying?” I lean forward a little bit to try and look past his hair hanging in front of him.

He brings his head back to level and is looking away with a sheepish smile. Wet tracks lead down from his eyes to his cheeks. “Yeah. I guess this is kind of embarrassing. I’ll leave you be for a while. If you need anything just call my name, I suppose.” He grabs his plate and places it on the tray in my lap. Standing up from the bed he takes it from me and starts to walk towards the door.

“Luke, wait.” He turns around quickly and raises his eyebrows with hope. “Uh… Where’s your bathroom?”

He looks away for a moment and smiles with a soft chuckle. “It’s just down the hall. You can follow me and I’ll show you.” I remove the covers from my legs and turn to hang them off of the edge. “Wait, you slept in your jeans?” He gazes at my pants in utter confusion.

“Yeah… Why-” I’m stopped short by my own body falling to the ground after trying to stand on my bruised legs. “Ah, shit.”

Luke runs over and places the tray on the table and kneels down to help me up. “Are you alright?!” His voice is panicked. I push myself up to my hands and knees and look up to his worried face. He looks like I’ve been shot and might die.

“I’m fine.” I start to try and get up and he doesn’t give me a choice this time. He wraps my arm around his shoulders and puts his own arm over mine. Reaching to hold my chest, he helps me stand and lets me put my weight on him. I hate it, but I have to let him help me. I try to pull away but he holds on.

“Hold on, just let me help. I can get you there.” I bite my lip in frustration and start to limp alongside him, putting my extra weight on his shoulders. “There you go, slowly.” As we exit the bedroom, I can see more of the mansion I’m trapped in. My room is on the second floor and the hallway seems to be more of a balcony. Looking out, a large entrance way is below us with a marble floor and fancy carpet. The stairs curve up to our right where another door waits at the top. The stairs are a surprising distance from my room such that I can only assume that whatever room is beyond that door must be huge.

Luke guides me to the left towards a door that’s significantly closer. Opening it up, Luke reaches in to turn on the light. It shines on a sizable bathroom. A flawless white tile floor makes the room look unreasonably clean. The toilet is just as white and the marble sink top is just as perfect. To the right, there’s a standing shower, with glass walls, taking up one side of the room.

He helps walk me into the room and get in front of the toilet. I turn my head and look at him wondering when he’ll leave. “... You can leave now.”

He returns my gaze and gives a surprised expression. “Are you sure? Can you stand on your own?”

“I’ll just sit.” He looks up and nods in understanding as if this was a radical idea. He bends down and lifts the lid for me. He reaches for my belt and tries to start undoing it. I slap his hand away and pull away “Whoa! What the hell?!”

His cheeks turn a bright red and he begins stammering. “I was just trying to help!”

I push him back and drop onto the toilet. “You’ve helped enough. Get out.” He walks out and starts to close the door. Before shutting it, he says that he’ll be waiting outside if I need him. Once I hear the click, I begin struggling to pull my jeans off while sitting. Once I finish my business. I try to bend over to pull my pants up and feel my insides tell me no. I have two options. I can keep struggling to get these pants on, or I can call Luke and get him to help me…

Reaching to the marble counter, I slowly slide myself off of the toilet and onto the cold tile. I try to muffle my pained grunts to keep Luke from hearing and trying to come in. Lying down, I lift my legs slightly to try and slide my underwear down with my jeans. Once I can reach them, I start to pull them back to my waist. Buckling my belt, I try to push myself up and remember why I needed Luke to bring me here in the first place. Well… I guess there’s no choice. “Luke… Can you,” before I can even finish my sentence, the door flies open. Luke comes in and comes to my side and kneels down by my side. “Help me up?” He smiles at his usefulness and helps me back up one too many times for today.

“I guess you do need me.” He smiles at his joke and rubs my shoulder like we’re old pals.

“Don’t oversell this.” He helps me back to my room and lets me down on the bed and continues to stand there in an obnoxious glee. “You want something?”

“Well yes, I’d like you to work for me. But you already know that. I really wanted to know if you need anything. Can I get you some water? A book? Do you want a set of pajamas or do you usually sleep in your underwear?” I open my mouth in confusion and then purse my lips remembering who I’m dealing with. “What?”

“Luke… I’m homeless. When, in my life, have I owned pajamas?” His smile fades as it starts to dawn on him. “I’ll be fine. You can leave.”

His smirk returns as he turns to go. “You’re not homeless anymore though! Good night, Charlie. Training starts early in the morning. Just call me if you need anything.” He walks out out and shuts the door behind him. Reaching to the lamp beside me, I turn it off and try to go back to sleep.

I spend what must be an hour tossing and turning, fighting to sleep. With each shift, my body sinks into the mattress and ruins my progress. Eventually, I sit up and dangle my feet off. Grabbing the bedside table, I lower myself to the floor and lie down. Closing my eyes, I find peace on the wood.